Bits and bobs

It's half term this week so I've been squeezing in birding around work and family stuff. My dad came to stay over for a couple of days (we went on wild goose chase trying to get hold of my Uncle's Zeiss bins- mine are in for repair)  and then my sister came to visit too. Yesterday was a work day around the Lodge with Matt in torrential rain and Tuesday was in London working. 

A garden birding session was okay this morning HERE with highlights including a Brambling going over, 4 Egyptian Geese, over 700 Woodpigeon over, a couple of Redwing over, the Redpolls are still around, a few Siskins and Skylarks over and the Tawny Owl last night. I'm repeatedly failing to pick up Crossbill going over despite them being picked up almost daily in suitable conditions on the nearby coastal watch points- not sure what's going on, maybe they are strictly following the coast. I'm pretty sure I had a Woodlark but couldn't see it and couldn't find it on the passive recording either so I'll wait for a solid one for a garden tick as they seem pretty regular locally so hopefully a matter of time.  

After my sister left I popped over to Pagham Harbour and walked from Church Norton down west side. A couple of a first-winter Arctic Tern flying over the car park were a surprise and there was a nice selection of waterbirds out on the estuary compromising quite a wintery scene HERE including 70 Brents, 250 Teal, 100 Wigeon, 30 Pintails and numbers of Knot, Grey Plover and Dunlin. 3 Avocets were presumably the ones from Ferry earlier on in the week. 

The evenings have been mild and the southerly air flow started last night so I'm hoping for some more migrant moths. There were 12 Rusty-dots last night and also had Clancy's Rustic, Silver-Y, Rush Veneers etc. Getting about 26 or so species of approx 70-80 individuals so pretty steady. 

First-winter Arctic Tern over

A bit wintery out there- Knots, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Dunlin and Teals

Feathered Thorn- some lovely late autumn moths at the moment including Merveille du Jours, Green Brindled Crescents, Sallow, Beaded Chestnuts, Dark Chestnuts and Chestnuts, the odd Lunar Underwing still and a few other bits and bobs

Grey Shoulder Knot (right) and Blair's Shoulder Knot

I went for Chestnut on this one

Gardening highlight this week was harvesting a water melon that I successfully grew in the greenhouse. Also got some Raspberries still to pick but basically it's all wrapping up out there. We also did some hedge trimming this weekand and started planning the winter works that will include putting in an irrigation system for our wild hedge, planting spring bulbs, re-pointing the patio and doing a good tidy up. Also need to plan some more detailed planting to target certain moths and butterflies by adding to our meadows and borders.